John Chuckman
COMMENTS – RECENT BITS AND PIECES – VOLUME FOUR
America’s recent activities in Taiwan have been among its
most dangerous abroad, and I fear nothing is going to improve under Biden.
Taiwan is an historic part of China, and the US even solemnly agreed under Richard Nixon.
However, since Nixon’s day, the US has gone back on its word, not an unusual pattern as we’ve seen with many treaties and agreements. America’s word is worth very little beyond what advantage it can extract for the day.
China has shown great restraint in the face of American provocation, but its patience, while great, is not unlimited.
I think there can be little doubt that China will fight for Taiwan if pushed to it.
Is that really what the US wants?
A BRIEF LATER NOTE:
China’s Defense Ministry has just said: “Independence [for
Taiwan] means war.” I don’t recall China ever speaking so bluntly on the
matter.
_____________________________
The joint South Korean-American military exercises, regular events, have long been a very troubling thing for North Korea, as indeed they are meant to be.
When a hostile country holds large-scale military exercises on your border, it is always something about which you must be on very high alert because you never know when such an exercise will suddenly become a genuine attack. It is a ploy used by others in the past.
It would be comparatively easy for the US to end these exercises, and a signal of good will, but it refuses to do so.
And it is just the same for the American-organized large-scale military exercises with NATO in Europe on Russia’s doorstep. Russia must be on high alert when these take place.
Such situations greatly increase the possibilities of error among anxious troops. That is exactly what we saw in Iran with the accidental downing of a civilian aircraft when Iran was put under tremendous military pressure by the US after it wantonly assassinated General Soleimani, an Iranian national hero.
In all these instances and others, it is the US staging an elaborate and threatening war dance. Do you think that fact might just point to something about the highly aggressive nature of America?
North Korea, on its own, bothers or threatens no one, And the same for Russia. Indeed, today’s Russia is ready to cooperate and work with anyone on economic projects. From Washington’s point of view, that is likely its greatest crime.
And whenever we speak of North Korea, we cannot neglect America’s atrocities in the Korean War. Three years of carpet bombing which killed one-fifth of the entire population. A series of war crimes like the massacre of civilians at No Gun Ri. And documented efforts with biological weapons in North Korea and nearby China.
Those are the real reasons for North Korea’s sacrificial efforts at creating a credible nuclear defense.
When it comes right down to it, almost all the serious problems on the Korean Peninsula have American roots. Today’s reasonable and intelligent South Korean President, Moon Jae-in, isn’t even allowed to deal with North Korea as he was inclined to do.
-----------------------------------------------
If you look at what China has been doing with education, with elimination of poverty, with high-speed trains, with airports, with sophisticated ports, you will be amazed.
And of course, the greatest economic initiative of our era is China’s BRI, the New Silk Road. It will change the economic geography of the world while building good international relations and improving the lives of hundreds of millions.
America spends a sickening amount of money on trying to control the world. Some 800-1000 military bases all over the world, all to be constantly supplied. A vast bureaucracy for imposing and enforcing illegal sanctions on others. Threats. Blockades. Black operations. Assassinations. Coups. Hybrid wars. Bombing. Support for some of the world’s worst tyrants.
And all of that is costly, destructive, and economically unproductive.
China is totally focused on progress and growth. And it emphasizes cooperation, both at home and abroad. It is an unbeatable combination.
___________________________
Putin is a remarkable statesman, and he sets a very high standard for political discourse, as he displays here.
I can’t think of any of our Western leaders who speak in these truthful and philosophic terms. Some of his recorded talks, like this one, have almost the feeling of hearing an off-the-cuff discussion by an eminent professor at a gathering of students.
What we hear in the West are slogans and jingoism and whining and bald-faced lying. Constantly. There is no room for honesty or directness where purposes are devious. After all, it is not a national purpose of Russia to overthrow the US, only to defend itself from it.
____________________________
I believe Alexey Navalny is quite a dishonest man despite big efforts by the Western press and politicians to portray him as a heroic Russian dissident.
I say this for many reasons, and those who know my writing know that I am the kind of person who supports heroic dissidents, not one who opposes them.
First, there is the Navalny “poisoning” Affair. I have already written about it at length, and I just do not see how it can be anything but fraud contrived by Western security services. I regret that Angela Merkel dirtied her hands with it, but Ms. Merkel has dirtied her hands with a number of unpleasant things under pressure from the United States, including the horrors of Syria, Yemen, and Libya
Of course, we have never received any convincing proof that he was poisoned at all. Russian doctors had attended him first, certainly saving his life from what was suspected to be diabetic shock, and they even took blood samples showing no poison. I remind readers, too, that military nerve agents like Novichok, supposedly used in both cases (Navalny and Skripal), are among the deadliest substances known. They kill within a few moments of skin contact. See these summaries and analyses to appreciate fully the absurdities of the story:
Now, we have the Putin’s Palace matter. A video from Navalny tried to pass off images of an exotic, palatial home belonging to an unknown wealthy Russian as Putin’s personal secret property. Apparently, there were even images of its luxurious indoor swimming pool interspersed with crops of Putin swimming in some river or sea.
Now, additional up-to-date photos of this this “palace,” once grand, show that it is in a state of decay. Much of the inside is rotted out. The Navalny video images were either very old or were “photoshopped.”
What kind of man makes such deliberate misrepresentations? This is a man entitled to call Putin dishonest?
Furthermore, even if Putin ever did use such a palatial home as guest of its wealthy owner, there is absolutely nothing unusual about that when it comes to world leaders.
For example, Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, hardly regarded as a tyrant, in 2016 spent a luxurious vacation on the private island of the Aga Khan in the Bahamas.
You probably cannot name an American President who was not a guest at the palatial homes of some America’s wealthiest.
It’s just not much of an accusation. Even if it happened, and we have no reason to believe it did.
But claiming, as Navalny did, that Putin secretly owns the home, without any evidence, is extremely dishonest and an important measure of Navalny’s credibility.
I will just add, that the Western press, in an effort to build up his “hero” credentials, ignores many of Navalny’s less-appealing views. For example, he is a strong nationalist and is not sympathetic to immigrants.
I think the entire Navalny saga provides a fine case study of what we face in all of our efforts to learn about events in international affairs. America’s efforts to dominate leave no room for truth. And other countries we might think we can turn to for information only echo Washington.
___________________________________
"Suspicion of Chinese-Born Researchers Threatens US Innovation"
Just one more advantage to China, one owing to American superstition, prejudice, and ignorance.
By the way, China has roughly eight times the number of university students that America has enrolled in the sciences, math, and engineering.
They are a naturally gifted people in those fields.
I do think almost every detail you examine argues for the future belonging to China.
Their current investment in infrastructure is jaw-dropping, while the US throws money away on the Pentagon and security services.
China now has two-thirds of the entire world’s high-speed rail lines. It has a brand-new constellation of airports all over the country. Its subway lines are amazing. The bridges and huge tunnels through the mountains, for rail and vehicles, are like nothing found anywhere else. It has already installed 700,000 5G stations.
Its investment in education and elimination of poverty are beyond admirable.
The total investment in human and physical capital is unparalleled. It will support decades of strong growth.
Just look at the Wuhan experience. Once China understood what was happening, it put on a war-time effort and defeated the virus.
Now, it is the only major country showing growth. It will be the engine of growth in the world economy this year.
It has joined a number of important trade blocs which will give it new opportunities.
President Xi’s BRI project (the New Silk Road) is the great economic project of our era. It will change the economic geography of the world while establishing many excellent new relationships and improving the lives of hundreds of millions.
Meanwhile the US has established a massive new bureaucracy for imposing and enforcing illegal sanctions, runs several destructive blockades, supports criminals like the Saudi Crown Prince and Israel’s Prime Minister, sells tens of billions of dollars in new weapons in the Middle East, works on an unbelievably-costly program to improve its nuclear arsenal, has troops in a number of countries who’ve said they don’t want them, and never stops lying about what it has done in Ukraine, Yemen, Venezuela, and other places.
----------------------------------------------
“US military refusal to pull out troops to be met with Iraqi nation’s resistance, MP warns”
America’s behavior in Iraq has been disgusting.
Nearly 18 years after invading the country, it still keeps troops there, against the local government’s wishes.
It uses all kinds of excuses, such as fighting ISIS, something it has never seriously done. Indeed, it uses ISIS as an excuse to occupy and bomb various places, including Syria. In fact, there are many reasons for believing ISIS and other terror organizations in the region have always been subsidized by America and some of its allies.
Iran’s General Soleimani is the Iranian hero who genuinely fought ISIS in Iraq, and America chose to murder him.
On top of everything else, America’s invasion of Iraq was illegal. It was just plain aggression under international law. In its respect for international law, the American invasion was indistinguishable from some of the assaults by 1930s’ Germany in Europe. Indeed, its Shock and Awe horror, given great publicity at the beginning of the invasion, was an adaptation of the Third Reich’s Blitzkrieg.
During the invasion, America destroyed Iraq’s power grid, leaving the people of an advanced Arab country to suffer for years, destroying opportunities to work for years.
To this day, much of it is not repaired. Reports have it that America demanded a share of Iraqi oil production to repair what it destroyed in an illegal war. Iraq has now made arrangements with China to do the work on favorable terms.
____________________________
“The New START extension is welcome, but it won't deliver stability. The last thing the US wants is improved relations with Russia”
The headline says it all. It is a deadly truth.
And I am glad the author has said “the US” instead of “the West,” an expression often used to diffuse American responsibility for destructive behavior.
Countries like France and Britain and Germany are dragged along like children by the US, hurting even their own interests – billions in trade with Russia, for example – to please the international bully.
And despite the foul Trump’s departure, it remains an international bully, causing pain and suffering and deprivation in a great many places.
The world could become a better place almost overnight if the US just released everyone from its unjustified demands and threats.
World growth in the wake of COVID could be considerably stronger if only the US would mind its own business.
